Taoism
Taoism, also known as Daoism, is a religious tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (, literally "Way", also romanized as Dao). The Tao is a fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Taoism, however, it denotes the principle that is both the source, pattern and substance of everything that exists. Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals and social order. Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize wu wei (effortless action), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures: "compassion", "frugality", and "humility". While the neutral religion is the most explicitly based on taoism, implying balance and practice as goals, chaos may also be inspired by it as well, with its conepts of spontaneity and naturalness. The tao te ching is the original writings of taoism proper, and is obtainable as a visionary item in SMTIs rerelease that gives more info about lao tsu as he appears in-game. Taoism is considers itself to have been started by Lao Tsu (Laozi), reportedly an ancient Chinese sage. He is known as the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching. ''Although he is dated to the 6th century bc, he is often considered by historians to be a legendary or composite figure, and taoism to have arisen as a collaborative effort. Beliefs on lao tsu differ in whether he was simply an elevated human or an incarnation of a god. With many forms of taoism that came later considering him to have always been divine, even though his original depiction seems more like a regular human. '''Taishang LaoJun' is one of several ways of referring to the deity (one of the pure ones) that lao tsu was supposedly the incarnation of in Taoist belief. Taishang laojon, identified by name, appears as the main neutral rep in SMTI, appearing in the form of lao tsu. Since he is referred to as this in the game, it seems to be implicating that he was always a god, but having appeared in a human incarnation. Taoism was also indirectly an inspiration on the phenomenology of heidegger through his reading of the book of tea. This has to do with how in the book of tea it describes taoism's emphasis on your being in the world, and how the taoist absolute is in essence manifested in the relative. For a bullet point list highlighting many of the different reasons neutral is associated with taoism, visit the theism page. General Info Taoism as a religion in game is generally associated with neutral, though not always overtly. In SMTI, lao tsu, was obviously the supernatural neutral representative. He even indirectly mentions the tao on the ending, though he uses a vague description rather than mentioning it directly. And the neutral church in I was ambiguous, but looked vaguely eastern, though was called and looked a little more like a dojo than a church. Then in SMTII the neutral “church” of repair garageism was still associated with taoism, having a yin yang in it, and a bagua on the wall. Which makes a trend that persisted across multiple games. The implication here is meant to be obvious. The yin yang looks like a symbol that could be used to represent balance between law and chaos. Which makes it as an idea the obvious choice. One aspect of taoist ethics is naturalness and how people should be free to pursue natural virtue. It rejects large structures trying to force it which it sees as unnatural. So from that angle it could be seen as against law. And on the flipside, it might see chaos as simply not having the required virtue. And so the balance being between it. The games tend to overall on and off imply a taoist relation to neutral, but also to reality at large with the interplay between the sides. The chinese word that corresponds to taoism refers not to lay people who believe in it, but to taoist priests. Because before the idea of organized religion was brought to the east, lay people were kind of just more open ended, and the boundaries between religions were not seen as strict. So while buddhists and taoists and confucians would fight for more social power, regular people weren't as directly involved in this, and would often just be parts of whichever, based on what they wanted. Different religions were seen as more each being the correct metaphysics with the others being incorrect or misleading rather than totally distinct per say. Metaphysics Tao is a word used in all of chinese religion that translates to "way", but a more accurate translation might be something more like “principle.' One of the core aspects of tao in taoism is that while you can know it exists through extrapolation, actually grasping what it is is beyond possibility. The Tao is both the source of reality, and the flow or natural order that keeps it in existence. Although considered in a slightly pantheistic sense, it is also similar to something like karma or dharma. Its a logic or natural order that reality exists by virtue of. While equivalent to the western idea of logos, one of the important parts to understand about tao is that it is not a static order. It is described as flowing. Carrying reality forward. In SMTI lao tsu appears on neutral to use the tao as a description of the overall structure of reality. Making it a basis of the big picture view of neutral spirituality. Note that unlike the western concept of logos which is more static, the tao is depicted as dynamic. Which is in keeping with how the east focuses on relationships and change more while the west focuses on objects and the static more. This difference is reflected somewhat in-game as well, with law which is more western themed being about preserving an ideal state, and so more related to preservation, whereas chaos is more eastern themed and focused on dynamic change. Although the tao is associated more with neutral. Though neutral's tone is also more eastern. While the tao is seen as something that existed before reality, it is not merely transcendent, but emphasis is placed on its immanence as well. The book of tea says that the taoist absolute is the relative. It is in the manifestation of reality that it is truly complete. And to it the present is part of the moving infinity. Te refers to the tao as understood as it regards humans. Note that tao means way, and has both a human and universal aspect. Te refers to the human aspect of tao. And translates to virtue or power. Note that the tao in general is the logic or flow of the universe. The implication here is that humans are a microcosm of it. And so in some sense the same “logic” that upholds the flow of reality in general, is the same type of thing that upholds the logic of morality, and what it is for humans to be properly moral. Explained simply, there is a flow to the universe that pushes everything, including humans along it, like a river. Morality then is acting properly in tune with this flow in a sense, rather than moving against it. Moving in tune with it preserves flow and order, whereas going against it causes strife and disorder. This might even sound a little law about complying with a universal order. But likewise, you can (and taoists did) tie it to acting naturally in a way you can associate with a more balanced mentality. Arguably even chaos. But in practice the game is associating it with neutral, describing being in tune with the "common thread that binds all that exists" a the end of Is neutral ending, which being said by lao tsu is obviously meant to resemble the tao. Wuji, taiji, Wuji refers to the primordial empty universe. Taiji revers to the primordial ultimate nature of the undifferentiated universe in which everything in it is taken as a whole. The tao is the flow of the entire process from which undifferentiated emptiness becomes things, is differentiated into yin and yang and becomes the ten thousand things. To show the relation. Its often described that wuji is like a calm lake. If you drop a rock in, the splash is taiji. the ripples and spaces between are yin and yang. And tao is the entire process. Yin and Yang are representations of seemingly contradictory forces being part of the unified whole. And these divide into even more divisions, and into the “ten thousand things” which refers to everything that exists. Yang translates to sunny side, and yin to shady side. And the symbol you probably know is called the taijitu. Basically a representation of all that exists, seen divided into yin and yang. The important thing to note is that yin and yang have multiple different uses as a concept. The point of them is not always to balance them, but rather that both inherently always exist. Yang is often considered "better" and the point of their balance is not that yin is as good but that you have to take the bad with the good. Whether yin is considered bad actively, or just slightly detrimental differs based on what you are talking about. Obviously megaten directly wants you to associate yin and yang with chaos and order. Though it doesn't seem to specify which is which. Since yang is depicted as light, the light / law side might be yang. But that distinction doesn't matter much. Neutral obviously wants to focus on balance of these concepts. And often talks about how too much of one done badly can lead to an excess of the other, sometimes often done badly. A bad structure can lead to an exaggerated rebellion, or lack of one to creating one. Note that just because they are both equally in existence doesn't mean they are in tune. Neutral seems to imply that in the past there was sharp jagged distinctions causing suffering but that making them in tune will make this less so. The bagua are eight trigrams used in daoist cosmology to repreent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. Each consists of three lines, each line either "broken" or "unbroken," representing yin or yang, respectively. Due to their tripartite structure, they are often referred to as "trigrams" in English. In SMTII you see one on the wall of the repair garage, furthering neutral's taoist associations. Chi or Qi is an important term, since it refers to the substance or underlying life force of everything that exists. The tao is not really a substance by itself, but rather the flow or logic of the flow in general. Chi is the life force of reality of which everything is built. Sometimes it is even said that the physical universe has no independent existence, but is a particular arrangement of chi. However, while the games do talk about spiritual energy it doesn't seem like the concept of chi is ever directly mentioned. Gods Shen and kuei in traditional chinese religion are often used to refer to spirits acting as good or bad spirits in general. Often tied to yang and yin. And mean literally expansion and contraction. Though shen also has other meanings relating to leadership and the mind of the individual, thus meaning something closer to spirit in general. Basically, the words sometimes changed meanings, but shen basically means noble or good spirit, and kuei means unnoble or evil spirit. There's no strict division between human spirits and gods. Humans have spirit, and on death become one or the other, which is one of the reasons ancestor worship is so important. Karma was stolen from buddhism to explain how later on. And an important thing to note here is that it is sometimes said that the tao is nothing but the multiplicity of spirits. Which puts into greater context demons in universe, as well as lucifer's relation to “god.” Lucifer, saying he was a part of god that god discarded in 1 can be implying simply that he is part of the yin side of the tao, but the ordered yang parts reject them. Although yin spirits are seen as more harmful its noted that they may have to exist or exist in some sense as part of the ebb and flow of the tao. Note that humans and gods being continuous shows up in game as well, with mayn important historical figures showing up as demons. An interesting side note here for taoism is that humans who have large effects on society were seen as more important shen. So the equivalent to sainthood here is not necessarily about personal virtue, but in that a human spirit's in life effect on earth shapes the world as a large part of tao, and this relates to their overall state in reality. Likewise, this is one reason why worshiping ancestors is important, since you came from them in the flow of the tao, and the “reality” of this is still over you. This leads to people like masakado becoming guardian figures of tokyo who in tokyo have great power in the games. While a lot of beings from chinese myths show up in the games, this will only show some of the more obvious examples. The three pure ones are a higher level of god in some more obscure forms of taoism that were seen as a more secret belief for certain people only. They are the Taoist Trinity, the three highest Gods in the Taoist pantheon. They are regarded as pure manifestation of the Tao and the origin of all sentient beings. The highest of the three pure ones is an archaic deity, seen as the source of all that exists, and somewhat equivalent to the tao. The first Pure One is universal or heavenly chi. The second Pure One is human plane chi, and the third Pure One is earth chi. Heavenly chi includes the chi or energy of all the planets, stars and constellations as well as the energy of God (the force of creation and universal love). Human plane chi is the energy that exists on the surface of our planet and sustains human life, and the earth force includes all of the forces inside the planet as well as the five elemental forces. As the Three Pure Ones are manifestation of Primordial Celestial Energy, they are formless. But to illustrate their role in Creation, they are often portrayed as elderly deities robed in the three basic colours from which all colours originated: Red, Blue and Yellow (or Green). Sometimes not even necessarily seen as entities as such, so much as forces. The three wise men from strange journey are likely meant to be the three pure ones. They describe themselves as one with the earth, and mem aleph saying they betrayed her implies not being meant to be abrahamic figures, despite law's abrahamic tone meaning they appear using abrahamic terminology. The fact that they are above the army of law gods implies being archaic deities of some kind. And the three pure ones are also referred to as the three divine teachers, which is a similar term as wisemen. Since the three pure ones are also depicted as one with the flow of the tao, the parallel is very strong. Lao tsu is also implied to be an incarnation of one of the pure ones in some taoist lore, and in-game he is referred to as such. Note that this doesn't rule out the wisemen being them since different beings can have multiple interpretations in one world, and be different beings in different worlds. Since lao tsu is referred to as Taishang LaoJun, who is the third pure one. He is also said in an interview to be in a sense an embodiment of nature, which makes him presumably one of neutral's highest gods. Note how the pure ones are seen as in a sense an embodiment of the tao, which would make him similar to figures like yhvh or mem aleph, who represent embodiments of a universal aspect of reality. Xi wangmu is sometimes considered the wife of the jade emperor, or sometimes some other relation. She generally in myth guards the peaches of immortality, relating to when in IV she was the demon kaga sacrificed herself to fight. The jade emperor is the head god of taoism. He is the head god, but different stories imply differences in whether he was always god, or came to power. An interesting tie in with yhvh here is that similar things are said about him in game. There's different stories. And like in taoism, in the end it seems to not necessarily matter, so much as what his role is now. The gods in taoism are seen as roles more than they are necessarily entities. Each role corresponds to a part of the tao that an “immortal” can fulfill. And likewise they can give up their role. So the thing to note is that while beliefs can differ, the important thing is noting that he is the head god “now.” Missionaries and later syncretic religions like cao dai even tried to say he was meant to be the same entity as the christian god, so tying him to yhvh is not a bad in universe idea. In one legend, heaven was weak and unable to stave off demons. So he trained for hundreds of millions of years in taoist arts to become the most powerful being in creation to unite it. Likewise an evil demon trained for almost as long, hoping to take over heaven itself. But the jade emperor won, and was declared the strongest and wisest and so most qualified to lead, and unified heaven. You can argue that this uniting and creation of such things as angels could be similar to the backstory of yhvh. Note that one reason that heads gods like zeus and the jade emperor do not show up personally is because in game yhvh is kind of treated as a stand in for many of them at once. Hokuto Seikun is the Japanese name for Beiji Xian Weng also known as Bei Dou Xing Jun or its full name, Beifang Beiji Zhong Tian Zi Wei Dadi. He is a deity in Taoism who administers the life and death of a person, and judges their actions in life which he then use to decide whether one goes to heaven or hell. Also known as the Lord of the Northern Hemisphere, Wise Man of the North Star or the Big Dipper. In other verses, he appears as a strict old man wrapped in icy robes, and is the opposite of Nan Dou Xing Jun, a mild-mannered youth wrapped in fiery robes. He shows up in many games as a chaotically aligned demon of the fury race. Because while the games associate taoism primarily with neutral, it has some chaotic aspects as well. Nanto Seikun is the Japanese name for Nan Dou Xing Jun, the Six Longevity Lords of the Southern Hemisphere in Taoism. An opposite to Hokuto Seikun, Nanto Seikun is attributed to the element of fire, appearing as a youthful person in fiery robes. Prayers to Nanto Seikun allow a person to prolong their life, averting any disasters that can lead to death and change their luck or fortune. Notive how his design is drawn to contrast Hokuto seikun, being currounded by fire instead of ice. Nanto seikun is shown as neutral deity race. He is also seen wearing taoist symbols, though showing up with a blue and red yin yang rather than black and white. Unlike hokuto saikun, nanto saikun is actually depicted as neutral aligned, despite the more intimidating fire based appearance. Yama also shows up again in chinese religion in general as the judge of hell. generally has his face on it, which is money you burn to send to ghosts. Yama is the judge of the dead in many eastern religions, originating in dharmic ones. In SMTI he is a chaos aligned character, possibly due to his association with hell. in Devil survivor, he represents and enforces keisuke's out of control demands for judgement applied haphazardly. Yama is portrayed as a large man with a scowling red face, bulging eyes, and a long beard. He wears traditional robes and a judge's cap or a crown which bears the character for "king." Yama is not only the ruler but also the judge of the underworld and passes judgment on all the dead. He always appears in a male form, and his minions include a judge who holds in his hands a brush and a book listing every soul and the allotted death date for every life. Ox-Head and Horse-Face, the fearsome guardians of hell, bring the newly dead, one by one, before Yama for judgement. Men or women with merit will be rewarded good future lives or even revival in their previous life. The spirits of the dead, on being judged by Yan, are supposed to either pass through a term of enjoyment in a region midway between the earth and the heaven of the gods or to undergo their measure of punishment in the nether world. Neither location is permanent and after a time, they return to Earth in new bodies. "Yama" was sometimes considered to be a position in the celestial hierarchy, rather than an individual. There were said to be cases in which an honest mortal was rewarded the post of Yan and served as the judge and ruler of the underworld. Zhong kui. In Taoism, Zhong Kui was a man who desired to be the emperor's personal physician. He was said to be unpleasant to look at and had a disfigured face. Despite exceling in the imperial exams, the emperor of China refused to grant Zhong Kui the position of physician because of his appearance. Distraught, Zhong Kui committed suicide by bashing his head repeatedly at the imperial gates. One night when the emperor was gravely ill, he had a dream in where he saw two Mo Guai (demons). The bigger demon, who was wearing an official's hat, ripped out the smaller demon's eye and ate it. The bigger demon then introduced himself as Zhong Kui. He said that he had sworn to rid the empire of evil. When the emperor awoke, he was cured of his illness. His worship eventually spread to Japan. In iva he shows up as one of the figures working for the divine powers. Ironic, due to being a transcended human. Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is a main character in the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West. Sun Wukong is also found in many later stories and adaptations. In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. He makes problems for heaven until the jade emperor brings him there to hope he will become more manageable. But sun wukong believed he would be given a high rank only to be given the rank of watching the stables. He rebels and proclaims himself the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven and sets the Cloud Horses free in vengeance. Sun Wukong later single-handedly defeats the Army of Heaven's 10,000 celestial warriors, all 28 constellations, four heavenly kings, and Nezha, and proves himself equal to the best of Heaven's generals, Erlang Shen. Eventually, through the teamwork of Taoist and Buddhist forces, including the efforts from some of the greatest deities, and then finally by the Bodhisattva of mercy, Guanyin, Sun Wukong is captured. The Jade Emperor and the authorities of Heaven appeal to the Buddha, who arrives from his temple in the West. The Buddha bets that Sun Wukong cannot escape from Buddha's palm. Sun Wukong smugly accepts the bet. He leaps and flies to the end of the world. Seeing nothing but five pillars, Wukong believes he has reached the ends of Heaven. To prove his trail, he marks the pillars with a phrase declaring himself the great sage equal to heaven. He leaps back and lands in the Buddha's palm. He is surprised to find that the five "pillars" he found are in fact the fingers of the Buddha's hand. When Wukong tries to escape, the Buddha turns his hand into a mountain. Before Wukong can lift it off, the Buddha seals him there using a paper talisman bearing the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum in gold letters. Sun Wukong remains imprisoned for five hundred years. He later after being freed accompanies the monk Xuanzang on a journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India. He shows up working for the chaos side in sj. Fitting due to his lore about rebelling against heaven and being punished by it. Zhu Yin, also known as Zhulong (Illuminating Dragon) and Shokuin (Shokuin)? in Japanese, is a Chinese light and weather dragon deity that lives on Mount Zhōng, one of Heaven's gates to the North, - it appears as a 300 mile long dragon, with an elderly human male face instead of a draconic one. The earliest legend of China attributes daybreak to Zhulong opening his eyes, and nightfall to Zhulong closing his eyes - its cold breath brought about the winter season, while its warm breath brought about summer. It lives at the foot of its mountain and did not have a need to eat, drink or rest. The rain and wind are at its beck and call, along with his illumination being so great, it even pierces the depths of the Underworld. In strange journey it shows up as one of the figures working on the chaos side. Qing niugai It's believed that Qing Niuguai is the demonization of Qing Niu, the ox ridden by Lao tsu. It shows up in game as an ox riding a cloud surrounded by taoist symbols. While not necessarily a major figure in and of itself, if one contextualizes lao tsu as an incarnation of Taishang LaoJun in the games, and look at its appearance as a divine beast, then it could be meant to represent a divine mount of his. In-game it shows up as a duplicated servant of xi wangmu however. In-game its described as the immortal cow of Tai Shang Lao Jun that descended to earth and caused many disasters. When Tai Shang Lao Jun was away, he posed as the emperor and ruled the kingdom, but when the real emperor was found, he rampaged and caused many deaths. Thanks to Xuan Nu and Xu Jia, Tai Shang Lao Jun's pupil, Qing Niuguai was brought back to his master. Hua po. According to scripture Zi-bu-yu in Qing dynasty, Hua Po is a kind of tree spirit said to be formed from the disembodied souls of dead humans when three or more people hang themselves from the same tree. They appear as beautiful young girls that are dressed in white clothes but are much smaller than the average human. Although they cannot speak, it is said that they make sounds that are as beautiful as those of songbirds. It shows up as a neutral demon in many games. Hsing-Hsing Also known as Shōjō, Hsing-Hsing is a sea spirit from Chinese lore. He has a red face, hair and a fondness for alcohol. One story has them giving a boy the sake that can heal his father, with a neighbor stealing some of it and being poisoned since he wasn't pure of heart. Its name is another word for orangutan. It appears as a monkey, and is neutral aligned. Fuxi is a legendary bird is said to inhabit Mount Tai (Taishan) in China. Whenever it appears war follows. It has the face of fierce man and the body of a cock and cries its own name. Legend has it that it was spotted right before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It is a dark law demon in many games. Gozuki is A mythological creature from China, it is an ox-headed being tasked with keeping spirits in the underworld from escaping before their penance is finished. It shows up neutral aligned in many games, and looks like a blue minotaur. Mezuki is A horse-headed demon from Chinese Buddhist lore. Along with Gozuki, he works in the underworld under King Enma. Bai Suzhen, also known as Bai Niang Zi, was a snake demon who sought to become a goddess in the Chinese Legend of the White Snake. She fell in love with a human man and sought to marry him, but was sealed away in a deep well at the Leifang Pagoda. Her appearance and demeanor varies from monstrous and savage to kind and gentle in various retellings of the story. She often shows up as a chaos demon in the games. She shows up in SMTIV in a challenge quest where she is looking for her ex lover saying that he had betrayed her, in keeping with the similarities to her story. Guan Di is the title given to General Guan Yu who was active during the Three Kingdoms Era of China. He was deified because of his accomplishments and loyalty towards his lord. He is held in high regards in Confucianism and is also worshiped as an indigenous Chinese deity, a bodhisattva in the Chinese Buddhist tradition and as a guardian deity in Taoism. He was widely popularized by the Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. And is an example of deification of important figures. In Western culture, he is often mistaken as the Taoist God of War when in fact Guan Yu does not bless those who go in to battle, but those who take an Oath of Brotherhood and stand up for righteousness. Oddly, he is worshiped by both the Chinese Police force (for standing up for righteousness) and also by the Triads (who place high emphasis on loyalty and brotherhood). In Chinese Buddhism, he is known as Sangharama and is often paired with Skanda. He is charged with guarding the Buddhist faith and dharma. He is a boss in devil summoner, and shows up as a demon in other games. Ethics and Practices Ethics. Taoism of course like any religion had a set of precepts in accord with the times. There is little reason to list them all here, but as far as standard fare, they tended to not be too far to extremes of law or chaos in terms of ideals. So the neutral assumptions are standard fare. One point made in games is that eastern religions tended not to have the binary heaven / hell, good / sin thinking of western logic. And so its more balance type thinking is something the games associate with neutral in general. That being said, taoism is not just about balance, which would be a rather limited way to describe it. In practice yang is considered better than yin, even if they are bound together. Their balance is sometimes seen as something one must understand the flow of to move toward the better, understanding the worse as connected to it. Not just a balance in general. Taoism thought that humans should live in tune with nature. Which they thought meant a few things. First, that human society was ultimately ephemereal, and that trying to build it up was in some ways a futile endeavor. And so living off the land without lofty goals was ideal. And they even idealized animals for being able to do this ideally. Likewise, they believed that imperial chinese emphasis on its own importance was arrogant and trying to create an image of permanence where there was none. To them, the government should be somewhat invisible, providing some order, but not in a pushy or overbearing way. Forcing ideals to a high degree was seen as unproductive, since virtue only mattered or could be cultivated properly if self grown. Likewise, they thought that people were naturally oriented to the good, and it was often human society and culture and relations that causes them problems. So they wished to break free from being bound to other people's whims in this sense and return to their own true inner natural state. The game seems to be interpreting this also as neutral, since neutral is about humans remaining as the natural humans are, and working in that paradigm rather than trying to radically transform humanity. As a metaphor they refer to unchopped wood, saying that it is best left unchopped, and culture and ordered lawful states was people attempting to chop it. However, despite calling to mind a relation to nature and animals, this not meant to be seen in a darwinistic light like much of mainline chaos. So despite those tones, there's a reason they consider it able to be associated with neutral. Modern taoists of course don't assume that it inherently means they have to reject society and live in nature. Nor even did earlier ones at the time think that that was something all should try. But rather that human society should itself see its place within the cycle of nature and its ephemereality, rather than outside of it. Being naturally oriented to the good does not change that it is within people to act unnaturally. Since naturalness in this context had normative definitions about being within a natural flow, not a statement just of how people were. Note how this focus on naturalness in some ways can be an inspiration for neutral, in that it emphasizes people being as they are, which has to do with neutral's focus on not radically seeking to be far deviated from human existence. Wu Wei. Which translates to non action, but in practice means something closer to''' Action without effort''' and naturalness are envisioned by them as the highest ideals of practice. (Though do not inherently have connotations of positive morality, since evil beings can likewise learn this). Basically, again calling to mind animals, they saw it as people simply acting without having to stop and think about it. And the mark of a true sage. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu explains that beings (or phenomena) that are wholly in harmony with the Tao behave in a completely natural, uncontrived way. The goal of spiritual practice for the human being is, according to Lao Tzu, the attainment of this purely natural way of behaving, as when the planets revolve around the sun. The planets effortlessly do this revolving without any sort of control, force, or attempt to revolve themselves, instead engaging in effortless and spontaneous movement. Like how sailing downstream has the water do most of the action for you. But one could try to sail upstream only to realize nothing is accomplished by it. This is one reason behind the strong tie between taoism and neutrality. This action without action has connotations of being a lite or subtle action. One encourages virtue not by trying to put it into practice without rest, which is seen as unnatural, but by having it implicitly in a subtle way. It criticizes those who go out of their way to do good in an aggrandized way, saying that the foolish try to be good, but the wise do not even recognize their own goodness, since it is natural to them. It says a good man does little yet much is done, yet a foolish one does much but little is accomplished. And when a disciplinarian does something and no one responds, he rolls up his sleeves in an attempt to enforce order. The connotations here that are being interpreted as heavily neutral are just that. It values virtue, but accuses law of doing it in an unnatural far reaching way, and being the disciplinarian in this context. And instead neutral values a more subtle virtue. In contrast, compare with the new testament implication of people giving all the money they have and transforming society radically. Which ties into christianity's law associations. Note that in SMTI lao tsu the founder of taoism pushes neutral in an indirect rather than a direct way. Which might be meant to call to mind this idea of action without action, leading the world towards neutral without directly fighting for it. Though on the surface this concept of naturalness could sound potentially impulsive, this was not quite the intent that was meant by it, since impulses can likewise come off very distinct from what they saw as a natural flow. This flow can involve learned behavior in some ways as well. One example given is someone so skilled at a practice that they can simply do it without even thinking about it as if it was as natural to them as walking around. With the parts being left behind being the human doubt and anxiety. Being natural in some ways can be interpreted in a neutral way, being in tune with normal human existence. But at the same time, chaos is considered eastern themed, and so this naturalness, being in tune with nature may relate to chaos' animalistic side. The language they used though it might seem ambiguous to a modern eye was defined that way due to the perspective they had on nature at the time. They thought people were naturally good, and so if left alone to some degree, they would develop more natural goodness, and trying to build up big plans was impeding it. So its not that they were trying to emphasize selfishness, but simply had a few dubious ideas about how idealistic they were about people acting reasonable in a free for all. A few aspects should be mentioned of aspects of its ethics that lean law or chaos though. Taoism talks about how heaven is impartial, willing to harm individuals for the good of the whole. And that sages likewise can do this. Which leans towards law. Likewise, it also mentions that in some aspects some knowledge is better kept from people. Though in this context knowledge refers to enticing them with things they will lust for causing problems. Which calls to mind the lawful aspect that without demonic knowledge which translates to self lusts and egoism that people will be better. On the flipside, its idolizing of how beasts in nature live, and this naturalness and acceptance of ephemereality come off a bit chaotic. Its idea of a hands off government that mostly lets people alone can in theory, but in practice despite professing it chaos is not really this in practice. But even neutral is willing to do these things at times. So its obvious to see why the games interpret it as a balance. Chaos is depicted as eastern in tone, and so liekly draws from a more aggressive interpretation of living naturally. Sages were then simply those who mastered the arts. They were both wise and powerful, and would by many interpretations become immortal. Often they were assumed to live in mountains simply because they no longer had need for regular society. And would not need to eat food either. Again, note however that masters of taoist practices were not inherently seen as properly embodying its virtues. Evil beings could likewise become very powerful through them. Afterlife The afterlife was ironically never a big part of taoism until it came in contact with buddhism. They said people died and became spirits, but the details past that were vague. And their goal was in fact to never die. Sages were seen as immortal. And would be able to visit the gods and other immortals without dying. And this was a goal they should strive for. Which ironically may be a misunderstanding of early taoist texts which may have been talking about how nothing can harm true sages, even the reality of their death. Some early taoist texts saw death as a natural part of the ebb and flow of the tao. But many later ones were obsessed with immortality and beoming an immortal powerful sage. And used various practices to try to get this. Such as practicing the taoist virtues. And alchemy (some of which involved drinking dangerous potions that killed them young). And sex practies that were based on chi and the flow of yin and yang energies that they thought if done right could prolong life. One of these practices being to have sex without orgasming, because this apparently generates life energy without releasing it. Unsurprisingly these manuals were all written for males, with some veering into sketchy territory by saying that one generates better life energy with younger partners. But these practices were not the only thing done, and they were warned that a sex obsession could also hurt life. And of course monks were often forbidden from sex. These practices were not infinitely common however and have to be understood in the context of the times. Taoists were originally skeptical of buddhism when it tried to come in to china, seeing nirvana as strange and self contradictory. Since you had to want not to want anything. That meant that in order to achieve Nirvana, one had to cease to want to achieve it. This argument informs the Mahayana notion of a Boddhisattva, who qualifies for Nirvana but voluntarily stays behind in the cycle of rebirth to help the rest of humanity. The Mahayana wing of Buddhism was the more successful in China because this implicit egalitarianism—everyone could be Buddha, just as everyone can be a Daoist or Confucian Sage. Whereas theravada buddhism was more clear about how only certain people will ever be enlightened. Obviously, note that taoism's lack of focus on an afterlife is another reason it can be associated with neutral. Which focuses on human existence. Obviously in practice taoism was not by any means secular, but many religions were simply more focused on this world than whatever came after. Note how neutral is not necessarily against gods per say, but merely against them radically trying to transform the world. (or in the case of dagda, among others shows that even that is not true for all neutral figures. His transformation being rather large, but seen as neutral since it is still in a balanced way). Taoism's lack of focus on an afterlife then can be conflated with neutral in that it has no particular eschatology, and so its gods don't necessarily have to be interpreted as having any particular plan to transform the world, but will merely protect it. In contrast with something like christianity that obviously has a concept of a point where history ends and leads into the afterlife. (In game afterlives are of course also conflated with radical transformations. Another thing taoism's subtlety is seemingly against).